Weekly Transcript Round-Up for 9/20/24: Mayor Wu backs away from BPS goals as June '25 deadline looms; CP Louijeune changes tune on School Closures; Council battles over Zoning Commission docket

This week there was major action on 4 issues that BPI has been monitoring:

1. Mayor Wu wrote and spoke publicly about the June 2022 agreement she made with the state to prevent a state takeover of Boston Public Schools which included a number of specific commitments. BPS is failing to meet several of those goals, with on-time buses being the most visible shortcoming. This week the Mayor claimed that the on-time bus goal was arbitrary, raising questions about whether she and Superintendent Skipper intended to meet other outstanding goals in that agreement.

2. Council President Ruthzee Louijeune changed her tune on school closures in an op-ed in the Dorchester Reporter about another major goal BPS has so far failed to meet in the agreement that prevented a state takeover of the system: a long-term facilities plan for Boston’s 119 schools. Back in April Councilor Louijeune attracted attention when she called for “right-sizing” BPS, a term that has come to mean closing dozens of aging schools because of BPS’ falling enrollment.

3. The City Council had a docket and both the Globe and Contrarian Boston wrote about the growing controversy over the replacement of Zoning Commissioner Jay Hurley, a long-time member of Ironworkers Local 7 by Jaimie McNeil, the UNITE HERE Local 26 Chief who is currently leading the largest strike of New England hotel workers in decades and a close Wu ally. BPI followed and wrote about McNeil’s appointment by Mayor Wu back in August.

4. The last $7M of Boston’s $558M of ARPA money was committed at a Wu administration announcement on Tuesday. This money was the subject of intense interest from the Boston City Council and caused a sharp exchange between City Councilors at a Sept 4 hearing on how the Wu administration was spending ARPA dollars. Check out the transcripts for who said what about the money, the plan to spend it, and the Council’s role in making those decisions.

MAYOR WU DISCUSSES AGREEMENT, DISMISSES BUS ON-TIME GOAL

BPS inability to get its students to school on time has dominated news coverage since the district’s new school year began a few weeks ago, but it has even bigger implications for Mayor  Wu and Governor Healey. That’s because having school buses 95% on-time is a major goal in the June 2022 agreement that Mayor Wu made to avoid a state takeover of BPS. Mayor Wu and her Superintendent Mary Skipper rarely talk about the agreement in public, despite its role in driving nearly all major policy decisions at BPS since it was struck. That changed this week. 

Mayor Wu talked about the agreement twice, first giving her own summary of it in a column she published on-line Monday defending BPS’ inability to get students to school on time. Here is what she wrote:

“In June of 2022, a few months after becoming mayor and with no permanent BPS Superintendent in place yet, I had to sign a Systemic Improvement Plan with the then-Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education setting a number of commitments and metrics for BPS and DESE to collaborate on, in order to avert the threat of imminent state receivership that had built up over several years prior to our administration. Since then, BPS has completed all the required deliverables with deadlines outlined in the plan, and we continue to partner on the larger goals. The document outlined a goal of reaching a 95% monthly OTP (defined as arriving at or before school start time), which is a threshold higher than any other school district.”

Mayor Wu’s claim that “BPS has completed all the required deliverables” conflicts with what BPI education expert Erin Cooley found in analysis that she did on BPS progress on the agreement back in January and again after BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper and School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson provided an update to the state in May. It also appears to differ from what the state itself found in a memo written by Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston for the May 2024 meeting, who wrote the district “not yet met the on-time arrival target of 95 percent,” and pointed to numerous short-comings in the long-term facilities plan - a major “required deliverable.” Here are the shortcomings of the long-term facilities plan:

“The Plan does not include future student enrollment projections, which is a vital component to inform future large-scale renovations, mergers, and closures. Additionally, the Plan lacks specific information on an overall timeline by which rightsizing the District will be complete as well as the size and number of buildings needed in the future state.”

Then on Wednesday Mayor Wu went further by saying during a press conference that the 95% on-time bus goal was arbitrary. The line does not appear during the on-camera portion of the press conference posted on Boston City TV - you can read the free, AI-generated transcript here courtesy of BPI - but here is what the Boston Globe reported:

“Mayor Michelle Wu backed away from her agreement with the state to have 95 percent of Boston school buses arrive on time . . . Wu suggested Tuesday that the target was chosen arbitrarily.”

Mayor Wu’s comment raises questions about whether BPS intends to meet the agreement's other difficult-to-reach goals like inclusion of English language learners and creating a real long-term facilities plan for Boston’s 119 schools.

The Boston Globe reached out to state officials for a response to that comment, but they reported that no one responded:

“Since Riley stepped down in March, there appears to be little appetite to enforce the benchmark. Neither of the state Legislature’s education co-chairs responded to requests for comment Wednesday. The governor’s office referred the Globe to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for comment and pointed to a Sept. 11 comment from Johnston saying the district has not met its on-time performance goals, and the department continues to monitor the district’s efforts.”

The June 2022 agreement with the state is focused mostly on behind-the-scenes bureaucratic issues like improving data collection and internal communication that are difficult for outside observers to independently verify. The failure to meet the public-facing parts of the agreement - on-time buses and a facilities plan - raises questions about how the much less visible parts are actually going. In addition, this agreement does not require BPS to actually improve bold-face student outcomes like 80% of 4th graders not reading at grade level. 

LOUIJEUNE BACKS AWAY FROM “RIGHT-SIZING” RHETORIC IN DOT REPORTER OP-ED

The last time Council President Ruthzee Louijeune talked about BPS long-term facilities plan in a City Council meeting was on May 23, 2024 - she is Speaker 1 and this statement starts at the 1:13:31 mark in the transcript:

“My first question is with respect to the decision not to propose the number of mergers and closings that we thought we were going to see in order to get the efficiencies that we want to see to be able to scale . . . And so there was a point in time where there's a decision that forthcoming that we would get some of those significant amount of school closings and mergers. Seems like that has really been pulled back. I want to better understand the decision.”

The Council President put a finer point on how she viewed school closures in an earlier budget meeting on April 22, 2024, where she said - she is Speaker 5, and asks her question at the 42:35 mark in the transcript:

“To me, it seems that there are some inefficiencies right now in our Boston Public Schools budget. I will attribute a good portion of those inefficiencies to rightsizing Boston Public Schools and those are conversations that we're having now in terms of the mergers that need to happen.”

In an op-ed she wrote for the Dorchester Reporter this week, there is no explanation of the administration’s decision back in May, but there was a significant change in the Council President’s message: 

“I applaud Mayor Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper for taking a measured and thoughtful approach as they consider many of these changes while learning from past experiences.” 

The Councilor’s change in tune comes the same week Mayor Wu is publicly backing away from the agreement she signed with the state, which required BPS to create a detailed plan for its 119 schools, many of which are under-enrolled and decades old. As Councilor Louijeune wrote in the op-ed, an outside consultant is being hired to write that plan after the state found what BPS submitted earlier this year lacked important information including enrollment projections and a timeline.

This is an issue that BPI is monitoring - make sure to subscribe to get the latest!

ZONING COMMISSIONER SWAP PROMPTS NEWS ARTICLES, COUNCIL ACTION

This week the Boston City Council took action on an issue that Contrarian Boston and the Boston Globe both reported on the growing controversy around the end of Jay Hurley’s time as a Boston Zoning Commissioner. Beating all three organizations to the punch however was BPI - in our August 16 issue of Weekly Transcript Round-Up we flagged that Jaimie McNeil has been nominated for the Zoning Commission seat Jay Hurley held:

“One of the Zoning Commission’s no votes on Wednesday, August 14, was the Commission’s Chair Jay Hurley, who holds the AFL-CIO/Greater Boston Labor Council seat on the Zoning Commision - the vote is at the 1:42:20 mark in the transcript. Hurley is being replaced in that labor seat by Jaimie McNeil, the chief of UNITE HERE 26. McNeil became one of Mayor Wu’s most prominent political allies after joining with three other unions - SEIU 32BJ, SEIU 1199, and the Boston Teachers Union - in 2023 to raise and spend $100,000 to elect three of Mayor Wu’s endorsed City Council candidates, all three of whom won their elections and are now serving City Councilors.”

BPI flagged the appointment because it seemed unusual for McNeil to take on this new responsibility in the midst of his union launching its largest strike in decades. BPI then wrote about the Council’s vote to confirm McNeil’s in their August 28 meeting in our Weekly Transcript Round-Up for 8/30/34. 

The Council had more than 10 minutes of heated discussion about the docket on the Zoning Commission today. Check out the video on our social and keep reading for the blow-by- blow.

The discussion starts at the 1:48:56 mark with the announcement of the docket:

Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy spoke first, and laid out the issue - she is Speaker 11 and starts speaking at the 1:49:09 mark for the transcript:

“So it has come to our attention that a long standing member of the Boston Zoning Commission, who was recently terminated from their position, was not formally notified of their dismissal, raising concerns about the adequacy of the current procedure for terminating city appointees.”

District 8 City Councilor Sharon Durkan responded with a question. She first explained that she is the chair of the committee that acts on Zoning Commission appointments, then said - she is Speaker 10 and starts speaking at the 1:50:45 mark: 

“So no one is being terminated. They are just not being reappointed. So through the chair, can I ask for a clarification on what she means “termination?”

Councilor Murphy responded, but the Council President Louijeune brought up a parliamentary concern, asking, “whether this is something that the council should even be having a hearing on?” The Council President is Speaker 1 and behind talking at the 1:52:00 mark.

Councilor Durkan then interrupted Council President Louijeune to make a statement, saying in part - she is Speaker 10 and starts speaking at the 1:52:37 mark:

“I think the person [Jaimie McNeil] that was chosen in place of this person [Jay Hurley] was highly qualified and, um, so did the colleagues that attended the hearing. Thank you.”

This is the reference to UNITE HERE Local 26 Cheif Jaimie McNeil, who was nominated to fill the Greater Boston Central Labor Council’s seat on the Zoning Commission. This is the seat that Jay Hurley previously held.

Then District 3 City Councilor John FitzGerald was recognized to speak, and supported the idea of having a hearing on this issue, saying in part - he is Speaker 17 and starts talking at the 1:53:27 mark:

“It is important that we understand what standard operating procedures are for people coming on and off of these commissions and appointees and it's not just a political courtesy, but it's also common courtesy.”

Then Councilor Flynn was recognized to speak, and he responded to Councilor Durkan’s earlier question, saying in part - he is Speaker 14 and starts talking at the 1:54:11 mark:

“And just to answer council Durkin's question, who the person mentioned was that was unnamed? It was Jay Hurley. I didn't really want to get involved in this discussion but it was Jay Hurley from the Zoning Commission, who's an outstanding leader in the city for 40 years.”

Then Councilor Mejia was recognized to speak and raised an important question about Council process - she is Speaker 9 and starts talking at the 1:55:43 mark:

“If this is gonna be about a specific individual, then that's a whole different conversation. If it's something general, then I feel more comfortable and confident with what we've already, um, have filed.”

Council President Louijeune agreed and then recognized Councilor Murphy again, who explained why this was not about an individual person - she is Speaker 11 and starts speaking at the 1:57:32 mark:

“Everyone should take it as a general meeting, because I did say, so I'll repeat what I said. This hearing is in no way exclusive to you. So I did clearly state that. And like most things come to our attention because of an incident, something happens, it comes to our attention, we bring forward hearing orders all the time.”

The Council President, along with Councilor Fernandes Anderson and Councilor Murphy all spoke again, before Councilor Durkan was recognized for “a very brief time” - 

“I'm just taking issue with the term “termination” because these appointments are for a period of time. Um, and I would love to see, obviously, as much interest as the appointees that come through the Planning, Development, and Transportation committee as I do to what's being offered now.”

That was the last word on the matter before it was referred to the Committee on Labor, Workforce, and Economic Development. 

BPI shares the concern that Councilor Durkan voices here about her colleagues lack of interest in appointees. It was clear that Jay Hurley was being replaced when Jaimie McNeil’s appointment was announced on August 7, McNeil appeared at a hearing on August 12, and then was approved by the Council on August 28. 

Having had all those opportunities to weigh in on this appointment, it is only now that some Councilors want to have a debate.

ADMIN ANNOUNCES PLAN FOR $7M THAT PROVOKED SHARP DISAGREEMENT ON COUNCIL

On Tuesday the Wu administration announced how the last $7M in uncommitted ARPA money - out of a total $558M - would be spent.

This announcement comes two weeks after the Council had a sharp disagreement over that $7M money and the ARPA Oversight Committee Chair Sharon Durkan told Councilor At-Large Julia Mejia - Durkan is Speaker 0 and starts talking at the 59:19 mark in the transcript: 

“We can either expect another hearing or a working session depending on what I think would be better.”

It appears that meeting did not happen before Tuesday’s announcement.

It was clear from Councilors’ questions at the September 4 hearing that they did not know where the $7M was going to be spent. The Wu administration officials who testified did not share any details of what the $7M would be spent on. In fact, the administration only answered questions about the money twice, both times were by the City’s Collector-Treasurer & CFO Ashely Groffenberger.

First she was responding to a question from District 9 City Councilor Liz Breadon - Groffenberger is Speaker 1 and she begins talking at the 1:19:31 mark on the transcript:

“So we have $7,000,000 and again, we're still on that same deadline for that, you know, to obligate that by the end of the year. So I think as we're thinking about it, um, it's gonna be really important to and whatever, you know, the mayor and and and you all choose to really put that towards something that can be obligated by the end of this calendar year.”

Here is Groffenberger again, this time responding to a question from Councilor FitzGerald about whether the money could be used for Carney Hospital - she begin talking at the 1:23:34 mark: 

“I don't have an exact answer for you today. I think, you know, we'd have to look at a particular proposal and match it up against the eligibility requirements to see, um, but we can, you know, certainly follow-up with you if there's a particular thing.”

The lack of information from the administration and public discussion at the Council meeting about the $7M is a good example of how little public discussion there was about spending the rest of the $558M in ARPA money. 

As Boston faces down budget troubles in the coming years, it remains unclear how that $558M in spending impacted the City’s long-term prospects.

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